I mentioned this ages ago, but anyhoo, I had this idea for a comic a few years back which involved a race that developed in a world that was eventually overrun by a sort of mutating, cancerous growth that turned their entire planet into a sort of twisted dark Eden that maintained balance with itself through death, disease, and really fast growth and mutation, but was highly dangerous for anyone else (usually either giving them cancer, turning them into mutating blobs, poisoning them, knocking them unconscious before sprouting seeds out of their lungs, or other nasty things). The native inteligent race of the planet were known as the Sarathi'rah, who eventually retreated into a small sanctuary island that was the last safe place on the planet.

Due to the situation and the general setting of the world, they did not ever advance very far with mechanical technology. The wheel is about as far as they managed. On the other hand, their knowledge of biology, genetic engineering, and medicine have advanced to a point that this technology defines the whole society. They have the power to create life and do so for even the most mundane purposes. Children make creatures as school projects. Nearly everything they use is actually a living. Doors are bunches of muscles that contract to open and need to be fed regularly, buildings are grown, not built, keys are tentacle-like nerve clusters that interface with doors and send specific signals that trigger the door to open.

Anyway, I did a little more development on the Sarathi'rah a while back in order to play a character that was of their race in an RPG in an effort to get a feel for Sarathi'rah psychology, behaviour, and views on stuff. This was a quick reference picture I drew to illustrate what they actually look like since I had a bit of trouble describing them properly. The giant staff thing that the Sarathi is wielding is currently tentatively being called a daer-te until I can actually make up a language for the Sarathi'rah and find a proper name. It's a weapon that has been engineered from a native flowering plant that shoots large, thin, poisonous thorns at high speeds as a defence mechanism. It's a favoured weapon that can be used as a projectile weapon as well as a close-range fighting weapon (hence the spikes on one end as well as a weighted nutrition pod to keep the plant alive).

It's mostly for reference and not all that great of a picture, but I'm still happy with it for its purposes. The only gripe I have is I drew the hands wrong. Because they do not have true opposable thumbs, it's unlikely a Sarathi would actually carry the daer-te like that.